Leaving your horse in the rain without a rug-thoughts?

These threads always get so heated (no pun intended).

All horses are individuals and should be treated as such, so why do some people get so agitated because 'someone down the road' has their horse in a rug, or not rugged. Unless you know the horse, how can you possibly comment on whether it's right or wrong?
 
3BayGeldings said:
I'm sick of the old "what do wild horses do" argument. Yes, wild horses shiver to keep warm and drop weight in winter and manage to survive reasonably well most of the time. But I don't want my pets to live like that - I like them to be warm without having to shiver, to be a good weight year round and to live a comfortable and pretty pampered life. Sorry about that.

Mine will be rugged up overnight.
Click to expand...

I agree with this! Whilst I hate over rugging, and think our horses are far more hardy that we think they are, I do not see why any horse should have to shiver or drop weight over winter. (Unless they are overweight of course, but then they shouldn't be allowed to get that way in the first place ;)).

The argument about wild horses shivering and dropping weight in the winter is the same thing as saying we shouldn't have central heating in our houses because some poor people in other countries have to endure winter with no heating.
 
Kallibear said:
Plenty of horses are unnessesarily rugged, which is prob where the new 'anti-rugging' attitude has come from. Plenty of owners will bundle up their beloved fluffy bunnykins to stop that nasty-wasty rain from touching them in case they dissolve.

However prolonged wet and cold are a different matter and it was both here yesterday.

Mine are rugless at very very cold, but DRY temps : two winters ago, at -18 I was deliberatly taking rugs off.

However some horsesd just cannot cope being wet in the cold.

I have one mare who should, in theory, never need a rug: great big HW mare who grows a coat a mammoth would be proud of. However she cannot cope being wet: when it's cold (5degree's ish) and she's wet she shivers so hard she cannot walk or eat properly. Yesterday was one of those days: it was not much more that 6degrees here, windy and very wet. Should she just have been left to get on with it?

I have no problem with them being wet and cold for a short period: couple of hours rain (and ensueing shivering) does them no harm. They can warm up again easily enough. But all day (and night!) of being freezing cold??: that's cruel.

I always try NOT to rug as they are uncomfortable, restricted and itchy and most horses would choose not to wear them. It's the owners who like to see their horse in 'cosy' rugs. But some horses do need them.
Click to expand...

Agree with everything you say here. Our horses were unrugged last night, but the temperature has dropped considerably this morning. The three of them that feel the cold the most are now rugged. The other four are still naked, but that may change.
 
I agree too. While not really one for rugging easily, I don't agree at all with letting horses shiver to lose weight or because its natural. The way I manage natives/good doers is to let them lose over winter, much like nature intended. However that's due to lower quality forage, walking further to find it, & no doubt using some energy to keep warm. But there's a huge difference between using energy to remain warm, & burning energy through being cold. Imo by the time they shiver, they are already way past too cold. And tbh, deliberately letting even the fattest horse shiver to lose weight is rather cruel, not to mention lazy imo.
 
touchstone said:
I agree with this, with the caveat that I want healthy horses too; a pony that is shivering and cold will be more vulnerable to infections etc and on the other side of the coin a pony that is overrugged risks overheating/colic and not losing weight if it's needed. It has to be what is best for the individual horse, some feel the cold and some don't. I have a native that is surprisingly wimpy and who will be rugged when shivering, better that than vets bills through catching a chill.
Click to expand...

Agree with both you and 3BG, and amused by those that say that their horses are so fat it would be good for them to shiver some weight off, or give '2 big feeds' to counteract them getting cold.

Personally I'd rather have a horse with an ideal condition score on a purely forage based diet. Oh, and rugged if needed ;) I think that is far less harmful to the horse than the alternatives.

Was dry this morning. Now raining again. Hey ho :(
 
I am a lot more prissy about rugging ours now, as the two oldest are now 26 and 28 and imho are starting to need a bit more cotton wool treatment to help them stay their best. A shower of rain on a warm day does no harm. But hours of rain or a heavy cold shower can imho. I used to not worry too much if the v thin skinned TB would shiver a little if he got caught out in a shower as he always regained normal behaviour very quickly, but now I do rug him more to avoid this.

It is not good for muscles for the horse to be hunched over bum to rain for hours, esp if you want that horse to be supple and nice in the school/hacking ime. Yes we have very good hedges, hollows and a field shelter, but if they stayed in the shelter every time it rained they would never have time to graze in winter :D Plus, boss pony can sometimes be very mean and block the 16' wide entrance and not let anyone else in!
 
I'm much more relaxed about rugging than I used to be. My Arab tends to be quite good with the cold, but struggles when it is wet, particularly if it's windy as well. However, unless the weather is going to be horrendous, I tend not to rug her in the Summer. Last night, I would have left her unrugged had she been in the field, but as she is on paddock rest I felt that wouldn't really have been fair so bobbed her lightweight on.
 
horserider said:
Personally, I only rug mine when the farmer rugs his cattle.:D
Click to expand...

Oh No....dont!!! If I dare to even mention rugs to my non-horsey-but-from-agricultural-background OH I get the "do you see farmers rugging their cows" response! He hates to see horses rugged unnecessarily. I hate taking him up the yard with me now as he feels its his duty to comment on the horses that are rugged :o He also hates to see horses covered from top to tail in fly rugs and masks, and feels it a cruelty issue that some horses never see the light of day without some form of rug on :rolleyes:

Both of mine were out last night unrugged. It did rain quite a lot overnight but it was still quite warm. They dont have a lot of shelter in their summer paddock but they didn't seem that bothered about being wet, and as they both need to lose a bit of weight, I am very reluctant to rug them until absolutely necessary.

I have to agree with others though, it depends on each individual horse.
 
CobsGalore said:
My cob is out naked, I knew the rain was coming but chose not to rug him. He has a few trees for shelter and needs to lose weight anyway so a bit of shivering will do him good!!
Click to expand...

Haven't read thru the whole thread but this is my approach as my mare is a big girlie and needs to shiver off some cals. In coldest biting winter rain etc and for older horses I do rug.
 
Last edited:
If I know it is going to hammer down for any period of time, I will put a rug on. Summer it will be a rainsheet.
I am nervous about rugging in the Summer any more than I have to, they can get overheated and it's a good environment for bacteria/fungus.

I haven't any issue with them being out in the rain in the Summer generally, think they might even find it refreshing.

I think there is more of an issue when people bathe then too much and strip their coats of oil. (no danger of that with me)

I also wouldn't want mine shivering at all, if they were then they would come in, have a fleece on, eat lots of hay and dry out.
 
We have an Irish sports horse who's very hardy and she'l happily stand out in the poring rain with no rug on instead of going to stand in her stable. None of mine are being rugged until it gets cold. I do have the stables open for them to go in and out of when they want though.
 
Depends on so much . . . condition of horse, time of year, level of work horse is in, how much shelter there is in field, whether horse feels the cold, age of horse, breed of horse, density of coat, etc.

In the summer I leave my Polish sporthorse unrugged as much as I can b/c I want him to have as much time unrugged as possible. If he's being ridden, he gets a rain sheet on.

When the weather is a little cooler and he's in his regular field (which has almost no shelter) he gets a rain sheet, the lightest weight I can buy so as not to squish his coat down and make it ineffective, but enough to keep the worst of the wet off him.

He is in regular work, so once the weather turns he is clipped and then I'm afraid he is rugged up b/c he doesn't hold condition well in the winter and I'd rather he was warm.

But . . . this is just what suits GreyDonkey. I wouldn't have kept our former share mare (Fell x cob) this way - she was very, very hairy, had lots of mane and feather to keep her warm and grew the most amazing coat (and wasn't clipped) . . . she went unrugged in all but the most ridiculously cold, wet, windy weather and sometimes she was naked in even that.

Horses for courses . . . no pun intended.

P
 
siennamum said:
I am nervous about rugging in the Summer any more than I have to, they can get overheated and it's a good environment for bacteria/fungus.
Click to expand...

We had I think an issue with this last winter, as our old boy had his full coat, and yet we rugged to keep the wet off. Trouble is it was so warm, and his hair started coming out in clumps and he got very itchy. We washed and treated him for all kinds of stuff and it didn't really clear up til spring which was horrid, I am hoping this year isnt the same, we need to cold to kill of the bugs!
 
Bertolie said:
and feels it a cruelty issue that some horses never see the light of day without some form of rug on :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I agree with your OH. While I do actually rug sometimes, I feel its important for horses to have the freedom to move unencumbered by rugs. Feeling the breeze, the gentle summer sun and the rain, rolling in dust baths is a pleasure some horses never get.
A rug reduces the horses ability to self regulate body temperature, to enjoy being groomed and to maintain a healthy coat. How many horses lose their manes or coats, or get lumps from over heating caused by inappropriate rugging.
How often have I seen a muzzled horse wearing a H/W turnout ? Or heard a vet muttering about rugs on fat horses ?
Over rugging seems to be epidemic since the marketing by rug manufacturers went viral. Is it coincidence that laminitis is such a problem these days /
 
This post has reminded me to buy a rainsheet to stop our oldie getting too hot this year in winter like last year. I won't have him out 24/7 unrugged in the winter, he's a TB, 28 and on the slim side as it is. I fear that getting cold he will lose weight, and I know that getting hot could cause the same problem along with many others :)
 
rhino said:
Just seen photos of gritters out in Aberdeenshire, temperatures expected to fall below freezing in the next few nights :eek:
Click to expand...

:eek: Oh No ! does that mean I'll HAVE to rush over to the yard to put a heavier rug on my girl ? :p

She was born in the New Forest, Lived in the New Forest until I bought her 5 days before her 2nd birthday. She was living "wild" on the forest during the winter of 2010 when the entire country had turned into Siberia.
In her natural environment, she had hundreds of acres to find food and shelter to survive. She now lives in a 100 acre field with no man made shelter but surrounded by mature woodland and native hedging, 500 miles north of where she was born (and a totally different climate). She can shelter beside the woodland/hedging, but can't get into it as she would have done when she lived "wild".
She has had 2 baths in her entire life. 1 last August and the other on Friday last week. She isn't groomed to within an inch of her life, lives out 24/7 and survived last winter with no additional hay or hard feed. She wore a rug during the coldest, wettest part of last winter but only because we had relentless driving rain and icy winds.
She has a lightweight turnout on now, but only because I removed her natural waterproofing on Friday by bathing her for a show.
I honestly don't get the mentality of people who put 3 or 4 heavyweights or more on their horses. Modern rugs have much better insulatiing properties that the jute + blankets and canvas New Zealands that we used back in the 70's.
I personally believe that any horse or pony should be rugged IF and when needed (e.g. after bathing my pony and removing the natural oils from her coat), but over rugging with 4,5,6+ heavy rugs is IMHO just silly, especially when said horses are kept shut in a stable because it "might" rain that day. (YES, I have a friend who does this :rolleyes:). :)
 
Last edited:
Havent gone through all th posts so this may have been covered. but other liveries used to frown at me because I only rugged in certain weather conditions in the winter, they were all of the opinion once you start putting a rug on you should rug every day and night until the warmer weather ? Mine seemed to survive with being rugged perhaps two days and then not again for a few days.
 
It has to be pretty foul weather for me to put on a rug in the summer - really unseasonably cold, blowing a gale, etc. I will sometimes put them in the stable if the weather is really nasty, even just overnight sometimes. There is very little natural shelter in my paddock from the prevailing wind. But if it is just rain, and the temperature isn't unnaturally low, I just let them get wet. Horses are designed to live out, and unless there is a pressing veterinary reason, shouldn't wear a rug in the summer months.
 
rhino said:
I will never understand the 'wild' horse comparisons on threads like this, it makes absolutely no sense; in the wild my horse would have died years ago...
Click to expand...

haha this made me chuckle as neither of mine would have survived their first birthday! but its true the wild horse comparison is just ridiculous.

Beans2000 said:
Oops 2 of mine have medium weight fill necks on!!!
Click to expand...

same ;)

rhino said:
Just seen photos of gritters out in Aberdeenshire, temperatures expected to fall below freezing in the next few nights :eek:
Click to expand...

When I was at the yard this morning the temperature was in a too low a single figure for my liking and im a few hours from aberdeen!
 
its not cold out, im sure she will be fine! my 27 yr old mare, is out, naked with a blanket clip and she won't have a rug on until it gets to less than about 8 degress at night as she is so hardy, she gets too warm at times even when clipped!! i think we do worry too much most of the time!
 
Those who say "it isn't cold" shouldn't really generalise for the whole country.
Just checked the met office weather forecast for MY location, which is 2 miles away from my pony's field.
The temperature here right now is 8 degrees. With a 15mph wind coming from west - south - west, and gusts of up to 28mph, this lowers the ACTUAL temperature felt to 5 degrees. It's dry here tonight but it's bloody freezing with the wind chill. We had a light ground frost here last night.
 
It's no more than 2 or 3 degrees here, and I'm in town :) Luckily enough despite my obvious mistreatment of rugging last night my horse had not died of heatstroke this morning. Phew, what a relief! ;) :D
 
rhino said:
It's no more than 2 or 3 degrees here, and I'm in town :) Luckily enough despite my obvious mistreatment of rugging last night my horse had not died of heatstroke this morning. Phew, what a relief! ;) :D
Click to expand...

Can't get it right with my TB Sunday night rug on thought he was too hot Monday morning, Monday muggy then after dark icy cold rain horse cold this am to night medium wieght rug it's chilly so perhaps tonight I have got it right.
At least with the fat boys it's simple , get on with it.
 
My mare will remain without a rug (other than a fly rug as she is very sensitive to flies) until beginning of Nov probably. She will either then be left with her coat full, and not rugged, other than maybe a fleece in the stable at night, or she will have a trace/chaser clip and have no more than a medium weight rug on (unless it is like the other winter when it reached -13). She is a WB type and I have yet to see her shiver or lose weight due to being left in the rain!
 
Prolonged rain in spring or summer they get a rain sheet if it going on all day. If its warm or just showery I leave them. They wear rugs in winter as they are clipped but when they aren't clipped I don't worry too much-my horse has only once been wet and shivery when it rained heavily all day long and I was at work and couldn't get to her to put a rug on (started raining after I'd left her to go to work!). The NF never seems bothered!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top